Romorror Fan Girl (Because there's nothing better than Romance & Horror): LIBERTY BY KIM IVERSON HEADLEE

Liberty

by Kim Iverson Headlee

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BLURB:

They hailed her “Liberty,” but she was free only to obey—or die.

Betrayed by her father and sold as payment of a Roman tax debt to fight in Londinium’s arena, gladiatrix-slave Rhyddes feels like a wild beast in a gilded cage. Celtic warrior blood flows in her veins, but Roman masters own her body. She clings to her vow that no man shall claim her soul, though Marcus Calpurnius Aquila, son of the Roman governor, makes her yearn for a love she believes impossible.

Groomed to follow in his father’s footsteps and trapped in a politically advantageous betrothal, Aquila prefers the purity of combat on the amphitheater sands to the sinister intrigues of imperial politics, and the raw power and athletic grace of the flame-haired Libertas to the adoring deference of Rome’s noblewomen.

When a plot to overthrow Caesar ensnares them as pawns in the dark design, Aquila must choose between the Celtic slave who has won his heart and the empire to which they both owe allegiance. Knowing the opposite of obedience is death, the only liberty offered to any slave, Rhyddes must embrace her arena name—and the love of a man willing to sacrifice everything to forge a future with her.

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EXCERPT

from Chapter 7: First private conversation

With the party’s noise muted somewhat, Aquila paused beside a column, bade Vederi to give them some distance, and faced her.

“Gladiatrix, I am sorry for any unseemly behavior this evening.”

A nobleman apologizing to a slave? Had the world gone mad?

“My lord?”

His gaze intensified. “I am serious. I did not intend to cause you discomfort.”

She glanced past him. The braziers were still burning bright and warm. The aromas of roasted meat and fish still wafted from the dining hall, along with bursts of raucous laughter. Her guard still kept his gaze trained upon them. As she regarded Aquila, her stomach’s fluttering resumed.

Mayhap she was the one who’d gone mad.

“My lord, I thank you.” Her honor demanded a trade in kind. “I am sorry I raised my rudus against you, and I thank you for intervening with Lanista Jamil on my behalf.”

“I deserved your scorn. You did not deserve to feel the lash for my transgression.”

“Your… what?”

“My mistake.” He reached his hand toward her, seemed to think better of it, and rested it against the column. “You attacked me because I killed a worthy opponent, did you not?”

“Yes, my lord. I—” There could be no remedy other than the truth. “I viewed it as an act of murder. And I despised you for failing to change the sponsor’s decision.”

“It was murder,” he ground out between clenched teeth. “But I was sponsor that day.”

“You?” She felt her jaw slacken. “But why couldn’t you—”

“That man was my father.” His fist pounded the column with a dull thud. “He ordered me to obey or die.” An ocean of anguish washed through his tone.

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MY REVIEW

Liberty by Kim Iverson Headlee
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I think this is the third book that I've read from this Author, and I can honestly say that it keeps getting better!!
This time, I was blessed with Liberty, an amazing Historical Roman's Romance.
Our Gladiatrix, Rhyddes/Liberty, it's one of my favorite Heroine of all times, she's not only beautiful but also fearless, a real warrior with deadly curves. Her relationship with Marcus it's one of the high points of the story, come on, I know, sounds girly, but for me, it's always about love.
The story is full of action, of twist and turns, love and the historic scenery its fascinating.
I, once again (Thanks Kim), highly enjoyed reading this book and recommend to every type of reader.

*I received a Free copy in exchange for an Honest Review*

View all my reviews

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Kim Headlee lives on a farm in southwestern Virginia with her family, cats, goats, Great Pyrenees goat guards, and assorted wildlife. People and creatures come and go, but the cave and the 250-year-old house ruins—the latter having been occupied as recently as the mid-twentieth century—seem to be sticking around for a while yet.

Kim is a Seattle native and a direct descendent of twentieth-century Russian nobility. Her grandmother was a childhood friend of the doomed Grand Duchess Anastasia, and the romantic yet tragic story of how Lydia escaped Communist Russia with the aid of her American husband will most certainly one day fuel one of Kim’s novels. Another novel in the queue will involve her husband’s ancestor, the seventh-century proto-Viking king of the Swedish colony in Russia.

For the time being, however, Kim has plenty of work to do in creating her projected 8-book Arthurian series, The Dragon’s Dove Chronicles, and other novels under her imprint, Pendragon Cove Press. She has been a published novelist since 1999, beginning with the original edition of Dawnflight (Sonnet Books, Simon & Schuster, ISBN 0671020412).

YouTube video interview: